Thin film magnetic head, method of manufacturing the same, and magnetic recording apparatus

Abstract

A main magnetic pole layer is constructed so as to have a stacking structure in which a lower main magnetic pole layer having relative low saturated magnetic flux density and an exposed surface area is positioned on a leading side, and an upper main magnetic pole layer having relative high saturated magnetic flux density and having an exposed surface area is positioned on a trailing side. The exposed surface of a main magnetic pole layer has a planar shape of a bilaterally-symmetrical inverted trapezoidal shape in which a width of an upper edge is larger than a width of a lower edge and is equal to or larger than a width of the exposed surface of the main magnetic pole layer at an arbitrary intermediate position between the lower edge and the upper edge. In particular, a height at a center position in the exposed surface area in the upper main magnetic pole layer is larger than a height in the exposed surface area in an arbitrary peripheral position around the center point.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head having at least an inductive magnetic transducer for recording, a method of manufacturing the same, and a magnetic recording apparatus in which a thin film magnetic head is mounted. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] In recent years, in association with improvement in areal density of a magnetic recording medium (hereinbelow, simply called “recording medium”) such as a hard disk, improvement in the performance of a thin film magnetic head to be mounted on a magnetic recording apparatus such as a hard disk drive (HDD) is demanded. Examples of known recording methods of a thin film magnetic head are a longitudinal recording method in which the orientation of a signal magnetic field is set to an in-plane direction (longitudinal direction) of a recording medium and a perpendicular recording method in which the orientation of a signal magnetic field ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027] In the thin film magnetic head and the magnetic recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, the magnetic pole in the magnetic pole layer is constructed so as to have the stacking structure in which a first magnetic pole portion having a relatively low first saturated magnetic flux density is positioned on the opposite side in the medium travel direction, and a second magnetic pole portion having a relatively high second saturated magnetic flux density is positioned in the medium travel direction. The exposed surface has a planar shape in which a width of the second edge is larger than a width of the first edge, and is equal to or larger than a width of the exposed surface at an arbitrary intermediate position between the first and the second edges. In particular, a height at a center position in the second exposed surface area is larger than a height of the second exposed surface area at an arbitrary peripheral position around the center position. Based on the structural features, the strength of the perpendicular magnetic field is assured in an information recording operation and the width of a record

Problems solved by technology

It is, however, difficult to satisfy both of assurance of the strength of a perpendicular magnetic field and reduction in the recording track width in a traditional thin film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording method.

Consequent

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